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Compilations of FOIA Decisions Now Reach Back Five Years

With the posting on this date of the Office of Information and Privacy's "Compiled FOIA Decisions" list for the first half of 1996, see FOIA Post, "Compiled FOIA Decisions (Received January-June 1996)" (posted 8/30/02), the tenth in a series of such compilations, FOIA Post now contains summaries of all Freedom of Information Act decisions handed down during the five-year period immediately prior to the establishment of FOIA Post in early 2001.

When FOIA Post was established last year, OIP began preparing summaries of all FOIA decisions received by it, for posting on a quarterly basis. At the beginning of each quarter since then -- in April, July, October, and January -- comprehensive summaries of new FOIA decisions have been posted for current FOIA-administration purposes. To facilitate this, OIP expressly encourages the FOIA personnel at all federal agencies to forward recent FOIA decisions (by telefax transmission, to (202) 514-1009) for timely compilation in FOIA Post. See, e.g., FOIA Post, "New FOIA Decisions, April-June 2002" (posted 7/2/02).

In addition to this, upon the establishment of FOIA Post OIP announced plans to prepare and post such summaries of FOIA decisions on a retrospective basis as well. See FOIA Post, "Introducing FOIA Post" (posted 3/14/01). This process began in June 2001, with the posting of FOIA case summaries for the second half of the year 2000, and it now has continued back to encompass, in compilations covering six-month intervals, the second half of the last decade. Spearheaded by OIP publications editor Pamela Maida, this reference project has proceeded more quickly and effectively than anticipated. In light of this, and its success in serving as a valuable FOIA reference tool, OIP plans to continue this project to encompass at least five additional years, covering the entire decade of the 1990s.   (posted 8/30/02)


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